The Athletics of Lyle/Pacelli celebrated Homecoming by hosting Spring Grove on Sept. 20. The A's came in avenging 42 points per game but managed only 6 versus SG. The Lions came in averaging 41 points per game but this night had 41 points at halftime after running only 14 plays. The final tally was lopsided, 63-6 Spring Grove.

The Lions did not punt, but with a 55-0 cushion, the reserves ran out of downs on the Athletic 17.

The visitors began by scoring on 9 of 10 possessions and did not face a third down until midway through the third quarter. However, the Lions did take advantage of short fields, taking possession six times in L/P territory. They often scored in 2 or 3 plays no matter where they started.

One play after Harrison Speltz forced and recovered a fumble on the SG 34, Dustin Vickerman caught a perfectly thrown Keenan Siminski pass just beyond the L/P secondary for a 66-yard touchdown. The picture-perfect, fully-extended, over-the-shoulder grab came 31 yards past the line of scrimmage with the junior receiver covering the final 35 yards on foot. SG led 26-0.

The Siminski-to-Vickerman combination has yielded a TD in each game so far this season.

Siminski also threw a 19-yard sideline scoring pass to tight end Brady Schuttemeier who just beat a defender to the pylon. SG led at that point 33-0.

The longest drive (82 yards) took only two plays. Matt Schleich weaved his way through a convoy of blockers on a 78-yard TD run to make it 41-0.

Schleich had a game-high and career-high 131 yards on only four carries. The senior running back/linebacker also kicked 3 of 5 extra points.

Caleb Happel scored the first three touchdowns on runs of 15, 21 and 39 yards. The senior fullback took only 6 handoffs while gaining 100 yards. He has achieved 100 rushing yards in each game with 710 total yards after only four contests.

Siminski completed 4 of 7 passes (one drop, no sacks, no interceptions) for 100 yards. Vickerman (71 yards) and Schuttemeier (29 yards) each caught two. Later after bobbling an extra-point snap as the holder, Vickerman alertly raced into the end zone for a two-point conversion.

Tight end Alex Engelhardt moved into the backfield for the first possession of the second half. The versatile sophomore gained 48 yards on only 4 carries including an 8-yard TD run that made it 47-0.

With only 16 players in uniform, L/P did not have a full second string. The Lion reserves scored on 2 of 3 late possessions with many L/P starters still on the field.

Two plays after Schuttemeier recovered a fumble on the L/P 23, sophomore Dylan Kampschroer scored his first varsity TD on a 6-yard scamper.

Sophomore Gabe Solum ran in the extra points and would later score on a 33-yard run to cap a 59-yard drive. Kampschroer ran in the conversion, and SG led 63-0 with just over 10 minutes to play.

The Lion defense held L/P's leading rusher, sophomore Daniel Bollingberg, to 57 yards on 24 carries. His sophomore backfield mate Jordan Cotter was smothered on 14 carries for only 16 yards.

The L/P offense depended on junior quarterback Jordan Hart who completed only 2 of 8 passes (12 yards) but scrambled for 81 yards on 18 carries.

Hart's ballhandling was once so deceptive it cost him a 60-yard TD run. Down 55-0, his fake to Bollingberg fooled everyone including at least one official. When Bollingberg was quickly tackled up the middle, the official whistled the play dead while Hart ran unnoticed all alone down the sideline for an apparent Athletic TD.

Foiled by his own convincing deception, Hart later scored on the same play, racing 24 yards into the end zone to close the scoring with 2:52 to play. That play and a Hart 31-yard run were the only big plays given up the Lions.

L/P snapped the ball 64 times to only 44 for SG. But the Lions averaged 12.2 yards per snap while limiting L/P to 2.6 yards per play. SG rushed for 437 yards and out-gained L/P overall 537 yards to 166.

After the turnover nightmare of the previous week, the Lions had no turnovers for the third time in four games. The 63-point total was the most since last year's school-record 80 points versus L/P (80-14 at Homecoming).

The Lion defense recorded 9 tackles for a loss including a sack by Speltz and Nick Holty. Schuttemeier led with 11 tackles while Schleich was in on 10 stops.

There was no B-team game. The junior high boys outraced L/P 69-32 and later in the week, downed Grand Meadow 34-20.